Axcella

Labiotech.eu | January 28, 2020

A Swiss research group has developed tiny plastic particles that could carry gene therapies to the center of the cell with less risk of getting attacked by the immune system than conventional gene therapies. The majority of gene therapies in use today are delivered to the DNA of target cells using viral vectors. While efficient at their job, viral vectors can risk triggering the immune system to destroy them. This can lead to the therapy becoming ineffective....

FierceBiotech | January 27, 2020

Johnson & Johnson is joining the growing ranks of biopharmas, including the likes of Moderna and Gilead Sciences, in trying to create a speedy vaccine for the coronavirus out of China. Over the weekend, we learned of a wider range and more deaths as the new virus, which appears to have come out of Wuhan, China, is doing what these diseases do best: spread. The causes of death have so far been reported as pneumonia, with other reports suggesting most of these have come from those with underly...

FierceBiotech | January 21, 2020

LabCorp has unveiled a new suite of cell and gene therapy development offerings from Covance as it looks to get in on this burgeoning new trend. “These solutions are designed to reduce time and risk for sponsors at each phase and across the full continuum of their therapy development needs in one of the industry’s fastest-growing segments,” Covance, the CRO unit of diagnostics giant LabCorp, said in a statement. This follows the first CAR-T cell therapy approvals from Novartis ...

Genetic Literacy Project | January 14, 2020

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College published a new study (“Anti-Phospho-Tau Gene Therapy for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy”) in Human Gene Therapy that shows the feasibility of using gene therapy to treat the progressive neurodegenerative disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The study demonstrated the effectiveness of direct delivery of gene therapy into the brain of a mouse model of CTE....